# Can Ruby print out time difference (duration) readily? **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [November 5, 2009, 10:09am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/can-ruby-print-out-time-difference-duration-readily/178484 "2009-11-05T10:09:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![winterheat](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/w/7993a0/32.png) [@winterheat](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/winterheat)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 10:09am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/can-ruby-print-out-time-difference-duration-readily/178484/1 "2009-11-05T10:09:45Z")
Can Ruby do something like this? irb(main):001:0\> start = Time.now =\> Thu Nov 05 01:02:54 -0800 2009 irb(main):002:0\> Time.now - start =\> 25.239 irb(main):003:0\> (Time.now - start).duration =\> “25 seconds” and similarly, report 23 minutes and 35 seconds 1 hour and 33 minutes 2 days and 3 hours (either report the whole duration, up to how many seconds, or report up to 2 numbers and units (if day and hour is reported, then no need to tell how many minutes) ---
**Author:** ![winterheat](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/w/7993a0/32.png) [@winterheat](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/winterheat)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 11:26am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/can-ruby-print-out-time-difference-duration-readily/178484/2 "2009-11-05T11:26:35Z")
> and similarly, report > > 23 minutes and 35 seconds > 1 hour and 33 minutes > 2 days and 3 hours > (either report the whole duration, up to how many seconds, or report up > to 2 numbers and units (if day and hour is reported, then no need to > tell how many minutes) You can try something like below (change with conditional statements to fit your requirements of upto 2 numbers): class Time def duration Time.now - self end def duration\_string difference = duration days = (difference/(3600_24)).to\_i hours = ((difference%(3600_24))/3600).to\_i ``` mins = ((difference%(3600))/60).to_i secs = (difference%60).to_i "#{days} days, #{hours} hours, #{mins} minutes and #{secs} seconds" ``` end end start = Time.new sleep(5) puts start.duration\_string ---
**Author:** ![winterheat](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/w/7993a0/32.png) [@winterheat](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/winterheat)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 2:36am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/can-ruby-print-out-time-difference-duration-readily/178484/3 "2009-11-09T02:36:49Z")
On Nov 5, 4:09 am, Jian L. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > and similarly, report > > 23 minutes and 35 seconds > 1 hour and 33 minutes > 2 days and 3 hours > (either report the whole duration, up to how many seconds, or report up > to 2 numbers and units (if day and hour is reported, then no need to > tell how many minutes) RichUnits also has a duration class. You can tell it what time segments you want to use. ---
**Author:** ![winterheat](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/w/7993a0/32.png) [@winterheat](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/winterheat)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 4:52am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/can-ruby-print-out-time-difference-duration-readily/178484/4 "2009-11-09T04:52:03Z")
On Nov 5, 2:09 am, Jian L. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > and similarly, report > > 23 minutes and 35 seconds > 1 hour and 33 minutes > 2 days and 3 hours This old thread discusses a similar topic. [http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.ruby/browse\_thread/thread/e51d23dadacc03fa](http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.ruby/browse_thread/thread/e51d23dadacc03fa) Note that durations expressed in any unit greater than weeks (months, years, etc.) are going to give you problems. ---
**Author:** ![winterheat](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/w/7993a0/32.png) [@winterheat](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/winterheat)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 1:55am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/can-ruby-print-out-time-difference-duration-readily/178484/5 "2009-11-09T01:55:50Z")
On Nov 5, 4:09 am, Jian L. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Can Ruby do something like this? > > irb(main):001:0\> start =Time.now > =\> Thu Nov 05 01:02:54 -0800 2009 > > irb(main):002:0\>Time.now - start > =\> 25.239 > > irb(main):003:0\> (Time.now - start).duration > =\> “25 seconds” require ‘chronic\_duration’ ChronicDuration.output(Time.now - start, :format =\> :long) # =\> “2 minutes 23 seconds” See [GitHub - henrypoydar/chronic\_duration: A simple Ruby natural language parser for elapsed time](http://github.com/hpoydar/chronic_duration)